adminTheir gripe was that their leader, war veteran and spirit medium Solomon Noah Shambira, known to his followers as Tenzi Nehoreka, had been arrested and was to be tried at the Rusape Magistrates’ Court. This arose from an incident that happened on December 1, 2013, when he allegedly stripped Chief Tandi (William Chiyangwa Samhungu) of his chieftainship badge arguing that he was an impostor.
However, Tenzi Nehoreka, dressed in a black gown with an overflowing green collar with yellow laces on the front and white ones on the hands and seam, and a black doek, was ordered by Rusape area magistrate Mr Tirivanhu Mutyasira to “go and dress properly”.
So he had to return wearing a suit to court. On a later date, Rusape magistrate Ms Patience Ururu-Madondo acquitted him of any wrong-doing.
But the contentious issue is that of humiliating a spirit medium by having him to “dress properly” according to Roman Dutch law.
After fighting for freedom, Tenzi Nehoreka inexplicably finds himself in chains. It is these spirit mediums who guided the execution of the liberation struggle. Tenzi Nehoreka fought to liberate this country in two states, first as a spiritual leader, and as a freedom fighter/ guerilla and labelled a “terrorist” by the Smith regime.
But the reward has been Roman-Dutch law and the suits and neckties that it brings.
Putting the role of spirit mediums during the liberation struggle in Zimbabwe into context becomes imperative.
In his book “Guns and Rain: Guerillas and Spirit Mediums in Zimbabwe” David Lan lauds the way spirit mediums co-ordinated the Second Chimurenga.
“Throughout the country scores of spirit mediums, the religious leaders of Shona, gave active support to resistance. With their participation, the scale of the war expanded into an astonishing act of collaboration between ancestors and their descendants, the past and the present, the living and the dead,” Lan says.
Hilde Antsen in “Missionaries and the fight against Colonialism” notes that where leadership was lacking, spirit mediums jumped into the breach and became the rallying point of the struggle.
“Cultural identity and pride, so important for the struggle, were boosted thanks to the traditional religions which not only gave strength, but also which set the majority population apart from the ruling minority associated with Christianity. The spirit mediums became symbols of traditional power and knowledge,” says Antsen.
Writing in his column “Reflections” in our sister paper The Herald, Isdore Guvamombe brings another dimension to the role of spirit mediums, that of protecting the liberation fighters. Guvamombe celebrates “the unequalled role played by spirit mediums, not only in inspiring the liberation war but equally in guiding and protecting the liberation fighters.”
Guvamombe then goes on to give hierarchical representation of religions in relation to their contribution to the liberation struggle, where he says African traditional religion, spearheaded by spirit mediums, trounced them all.
“The intervention by spirit mediums was divine, complex and larger than life, forcing the churches and Christianity to play second fiddle,” Guvamombe says.
Prominent academic Dr Wendy Willems, in a review of “Guns and Guerilla Girls: Women in the Zimbabwe Liberation Struggle”, notes that Zimbabwean spirit mediums are no fossil, or dinosaur, but are active in today’s world, even influencing the fast track land reform programme from 2000.
“Thus, spirit mediums cannot be situated narrowly within the traditions of autochthons, nor only within a vision of the past, given that they mediate the interests of various residents, do not reject ‘modern development’, and look towards the future,” Dr Williams opines.
However, in Zimbabwe there seems to be no space for spirit mediums, if the treatment of Tenzi Nehoreka is justifiably used as a pixel of the bigger picture.
This is what Hosiah Chipanga says in the song “Zvinorwadza (It’s so painful)” whereby he says the caterpillar hews rock and hill to construct roads but is never allowed to travel on the finished road.
Zvinorwadza Mwari Baba (It’s painful Oh Lord)
Kubatwa secaterpillar (To be treated like a caterpillar)
Rinovavhurira mugwagwa (That constructs roads)
Vofamba kuno nekokoko (Then they drive here and there)
Vachishaina nemota dzavo (As they show off their sleek cars)
Iro risingapafambi. Shame (But the caterpillar is banned from roads)
But surely a son of a peasant farmer from 22-miles peg, I am backward, am I not? Spirit mediums are not the in-thing?
However, Great Britain has a monarchy, and the Queen is greeted with unrivalled reverence. She and the “Royal Family” don’t even have to go to work, all is catered for. So how modern is Zimbabwe by urinating in the spirit mediums’ drinking water well?
Japan is a billion-dollar economy whose large corporations are named after families. Be you British or Zimbabwean, their car is Isuzu, Honda or Suzuki, among others. Isuzu is named after a Japanese river. According to Wikipedia, Suzuki was founded in 1909 by Michio Suzuki (1887-1982).
But here in Zimbabwe we all hunger for “modernity”, and this is achieved by frowning upon our cultural values.
This is what the late novelist, Chinua Achebe, terms “weeping louder than the bereaved”.
Such disdain for our culture drove Zimbabwe’s own Aristotle, Hosiah “Kwachu Kwachu” Chipanga, to pen and sing the song “Makomborero kuvaChena (Blessing to the Whites)” that shows why blacks are not prospering. According to Chipanga, blacks worship in English, so God believes it’s whites praying, so He blesses them.
Chipanga goes on to say on visiting the graveyard, God sees the words “Rest in Peace”, instead of Zorora Murugare”, so he believes whites are dying en masse, so he blesses whites instead.
So the argument is that no one is above the law. No exceptions, no sacred cows. So the spirit medium must put on a suit and necktie when coming to court.
Surely murder is murder, so why is there culpable homicide? It’s an exception, isn’t it? “I killed him in self-defence, Your Worship,” one quips.
So no exception is granted to Tenzi Nehoreka as regards his dressing in court.
But around the world, exceptions are being made. Economic Freedom Fighters leader Julius Malema led elected members of his party to the South African Parliament for swearing-in while dressed in overalls and hard hats with female EFF MPs dressed like cleaners.
Malema levelled a jibe at dress laws in South Africa:
“An unjust law is not law at all. And that is starting with the dress code. Why should people be refused to enter Parliament in overalls and be restricted to suits and ties? And if the weather allows, we are going to wear makarapa (hard hats),” Malema said.
Malema and EFF’s reason for such dressing was that they represent workers, the miners, domestic workers and other common people of South Africa.
Juxtapose with Tenzi Nehoreka’s dressing. Tenzi Nehoreka would say, “This is the revolutionary dress of the country. These are the garbs of freedom.
“These clothes are worn only by protectors and guardians of the people, not suits that can also be worn by murderers, thieves and rapists. This is the apparel of the chosen ones”.
It is befuddling to note that while Tenzi Nehoreka faces the stick, charismatic prophets are on a raping spree, yet are not being reprimanded.
Miracle money, which should be criminalised, for it’s against international monetary laws and best practices, is said to be above board. But one of the country’s liberators is nailed on the cross, he should go back and “dress properly”.
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